I did it! I
fulfilled my goal of a Virtual Everesting!
As I await approval from the Hells500 folks as to my inclusion into
their vEveresting Hall of Fame I just want to get the message out.
I have wanted to do a vEveresting for a couple of years
now, and finally my health and schedule got together and allowed me to do
this. My coach, Mark Fasczewski, devised
a several-week master plan that took me through the end of Cyclocross season
and into pre-vEveresting. Although I had
already climbed Alpe du Zwift 27 times since its creation in March of 2018,
starting this October I now had a new purpose.
In 6 weeks of training I climbed it another 29 times, not all at once,
of course, and I really got to know the ins and outs and what I could
reasonably expect my pace to be while vEveresting. I was looking at 8.54 times up this climb so
I had to be prepared.
The rules of vEveresting state that it needs to be done
on a very reliable trainer and that it needs to be set at 100% difficulty. I purchased a Wahoo Kickr and the Climb, and
it was a giant leap forward in my Zwifting experience. The Climb makes riding the trainer such a
dynamic experience and one can then be “all over the saddle,” just like riding
in the real world. I have become a real
Wahooligan!
The gearing on my Specialized Venge was a generous 36 x
34, but I realized that while it was good for interval training on the Alpe and
anything I wanted to do in the real world it was just going to be a long 60 rpm
slog on the day of vEveresting. The guys
at Dick Sonne’s Cycling came to my rescue, just as they had with the Wahoo
setup, and transformed my Specialized Crux into the bike of my dreams,
installing a cassette with a 40 tooth cog and getting it to work flawlessly. I also purchased a Specialized Mimic saddle
which I can’t say enough good things about. What gifts!
All this training required super attention to nutrition
and hydration. Back to back 4 and 5 hour
days are no time to skimp on anything.
The products from my sponsor Hammer Nutrition were always there for me
and my familiarity with their use made me even more aware of how much and when
to ingest. I always remind people that
nutrition and hydration are things that we athletes have a large amount of
control over and to not squander that advantage by neglecting to learn or
implement the things that work best for them.
So vEveresting day came along and I was excited. I was also a bit nervous since I had no real
idea how my body was going to react over the long haul, but I had good faith in
my preparation. I also had a great
wealth of cycling history to fall back on, from completing a record setting
Team RAAM in 2017, three Leadvilles, several Mount Washington Auto Road races,
several BUMPS series, and Whiteface Auto Road races. Alpe du Zwift is taken from the GPS info for
the famed Alpe d’ Huez in France, but it is also very similar in average grade
and length of the Whiteface Auto Road.
It even looks the same at the top and for the last mile or so on Alpe du
Zwift I am always transported back to those
Whiteface finishes.
Although I slept well I woke at 3 and, after trying to go
back to sleep I got up and got ready. I
had to do my final prep, like make bottles with Perpetuem and get Hammer Gel
flasks ready. I took my Hammer Nutrition supplements. I had some coffee. I also had to take photographs for my
documentation for Hells500. This included
my weigh-in and its setting in Zwift. I
had calibrated the Kickr the day before and taken screen shots of that as well
as photos of my pain cave and gearing. Then it was time to sign on to Zwift and at
4:39 AM I was off!
Wow, that was early for me to be on a bike so I took it
easy getting to the base of the mountain and babied myself on the first
climb. I listened to my usual music
(House) and that did nothing to inspire me.
My lower back hurt. Really? This
was going to be a long day. But I rolled
over the top in under my goal time, at 77 minutes and change. OK, this was going to work. I hit the descent and spun my legs out.
The second climb was a little slower but then they
started getting faster. I switched from
music to watching Belgian and Dutch Cyclocross.
There were some that I had not yet seen.
GCN racing, yeah! I kept track of
my fueling, hydration, and Hammer Nutrition supplements on an index card so I
would not have to wonder when I needed more.
Looking at that card now it looks like chicken scratch, but it worked!
While I was riding I got so many “Ride ons” from people I
knew and the people riding around me.
Next to my name I was encouraged to add vEveresting so that everyone
would know that is what I was up to. It
sure was an attention grabber. I also
had friends drop into my ride and do a bit of climbing with me. One of my athletes was doing some Alpe
repeats on his own, for training, having his own personal suffer fest. They all
offered encouragement through texting, and although my replies back were
cryptic at best I appreciated them being there.
I was so intent on focusing on my pacing (not too hard, not to easy) and
taking care of myself when I needed to that I was less than social. And I just
did not want to hit the wrong thing on my phone, causing the whole game to
crash. Note that I have never done that
from the Companion App on the phone but I have done so from a keyboard which is
why I did not use one that day.
The time really flew by, which is something that I found
happens with longer events. Especially
events that have some kind of cut-off like Leadville. Being able to break this up into eight equal
parts and then the finish to 29,029 feet made it mentally easier and I just
took it one bite at a time, like all those other events. I was thrilled with my pacing and how I was
feeling. I was able to take such good
care of myself and my support crew of my husband Phil and friend Wendy B was able
to fill in the blanks when I needed them to.
Before long I had completed my eighth time up Alpe, and
watched a lot of Cyclocross. It was time
for the last push to 29,029! Some more
friends magically appeared near me on the Alpe and were cheering me on. I apologized, with a lot of typos, that I
could no longer text. I just kept
riding. Phil took some more photos and
some video. And then I got that Zwift
banner announcing to me that I had achieved an Everesting, at 12 hours, 42
minutes and 40 seconds. OMG, I was so
excited! I rode another couple of
hundred feet to just make sure I had done the right thing. Wow, I had done it, after planning this for
so long.
So then I got off the bike and was frantic to save the
file to Strava before some mythological electronic gremlin could come along and
eat the Zwift file I had just worked so hard to make. I was terrified that this would happen. I had
a backup going, off my Power Tap pedals on my Joule GPS+ which recorded that
power, cadence, and heart rate, but I really wanted to have the Zwift
file. It saved. Yay!
And then the adrenaline left me completely and I could barely stand or
walk. I felt like I did after just
completing a Leadville. What a
surprise? Not really.
So two days later I am still ecstatic about this. Yesterday I submitted all my documentation to
Hells500. I am working hard on my
recovery. The evening after I completed
it I started by chugging two bottles of Recoverite. Then I moved to a couple of Hammer Nutrition’s
bars. Eventually I ventured into solid
food. My sleep was predictably lousy, and I kept hydrating and nibbling
throughout the night. Yesterday I felt the
effects, but after a three hour nap in the afternoon I began to feel like a new
person. Today is even better.
So what is next?
Well, Christmas and some time with our daughters and our
granddaughter. And while you’d think
that having a total of 64 climbs up Alpe would be enough I can’t wait to do
another vEveresting. There is also a
challenge to climb for 10,000 meters instead of a mere 8848. There are other worlds on Zwift that have
some good climbs, although that will take longer as well. And there are some good hills around here,
outside. Stay tuned…
I really want to thank my sponsor Hammer Nutrition for
helping me with this. Also Dick Sonne’s
Cycling for all their instantaneous help with my bikes and their dealing with
Specialized and Wahoo when I needed some more information. They even had some of this attempt going live
while it was happening! Thank you to my athletes and friends for the continual
Ride Ons all day. Also thank you Bear
Mountaineers for your support, especially Paul Zucker for rounding up the
troops that popped in – himself included - every now and again. Ed Ickowski was there in the beginning doing his own three climbs. Bryant Stafford, Pam Peloso, Mily Noyola and
friend Danielle Madore were there for a photo at the end. If I forgot anyone please forgive me. Sometimes I was not looking at the screen or
may have been less than coherent.
Everyone was so helpful. Of
course a giant thank you Phil Thompson and Wendy Bowers for being there in the
flesh for me, and then guiding me during the aftermath – like climbing the
stairs!
I am so fortunate. There is a saying that good luck is the combination of opportunity and preparedness. Having the treasure of good health and having the time to train opened the door for this opportunity. The intense in-depth training and support that Coach Mark provided provided me, layered on top of my past experiences, left me with unparalleled preparedness. I had the best of times doing this, and with time being such a precious commodity I am beyond grateful. Thank you, again, for all who helped me out in any way.
